2009-12-08 11:32:09
By Maggie Shiels, Technology reporter
BBC News, Silicon Valley
Google has launched real-time search to give users access to up-to-the-second
information.
The search giant said it will draw real-time data from over a billion pages on
the web.
The new feature will also include updates from Twitter and the social networks
of MySpace and Facebook.
"Information is being created at a pace I have never seen before and in this
environment, seconds matter," said Google fellow Amit Singhal.
At an event staged at the Computer History Museum in California, the company
said this was the first time that any search engine has integrated the
real-time web into its results page.
"There is so much information being generated out there that getting you
relevant information is the key to the success of a product like this. It's all
about relevance, relevance, relevance," said Mr Singhal.
Technical feat
The Silicon Valley company said the feature was now live and would take a
couple of days to be rolled out across the world. Updates from Twitter will be
included right away, while those from Facebook and MySpace are not expected to
be integrated into results until the new year.
The real-time stream of data will be shown within Google's normal results page.
The feature will also be available on smart phones, such as the iPhone and
those running Google's Android operating system.
Google would not be drawn on the financial details of the deals it has done
with Twitter, MySpace and Facebook.
Facebook has publicly stated it is not making money on this collaboration and
that the updates it will give Google come from the public profile pages that
can be seen by anybody on the web.
From a technical standpoint, the company said this was a landmark event in the
world of search.
"This is a technical marvel, getting all these updates in seconds, making them
searchable right after they are posted and making them available so that anyone
in the world can find them," said Google's vice-president of search Marissa
Mayer.
"The updates (on Twitter) are so truthful and so in the moment. That is a
really, really powerful part of this. Are you at this event right now? Are you
on this ski slope right now? And because of that 'right now' element of it ,
this is hugely valuable data," Ms Mayer told BBC News.
Twitter founder Biz Stone told reporters the company was "super excited to be
doing this with Google. Relevance, relevance, relevance - they are good at it,
we're not," he said.
Competition drive
Reaction to Google's announcement has been largely positive in the blogosphere.
"It looks really great and is a next step in search," said Bas van den Beld at
Searchcowboys.com.
"The announcement signals an aggressive push by Google to maintain its mantle
as search-innovation leader amid unaccustomed pressure from rivals," said Ryan
Singel from Wired.com
Danny Sullivan of SearchEngineLand said with Microsoft pulling out the stops
with its own Bing search engine, Google needed to show it had its eye on the
prize.
"From the PR standpoint it would not have been helpful to be a leading
information resource and have people pointing out that you don't have certain
kinds of information, especially when you have a rival like Bing cutting deals
and diligently going after Google," Mr Sullivan told BBC News.
Google has around 65% of the search market while Microsoft's Bing which has
just done a deal with Yahoo commands nearly 30%.
Computer vision
The search giant also unveiled Google Goggles, a new visual search feature that
lets consumers use a picture instead of keywords as the search query.
The tool compares the image users have taken with Google's database to return
relevant information.
"In the nature of computer vision we are at the beginning here and the
technology is just getting underway," said Google's vice-president of
engineering, Vic Gundotra.
"This today marks the beginning of this visual journey. We are at the cusp of a
an entire new computing era where devices will help us explore the world around
us."
The feature will be available on the Android platform.